Completely fair. I will say, in defense of the system, that some form of conflict resolution mechanic was required - the town and surrounding environs descending into war was foreshadowed throughout the first two acts and is necessary for the story - but it took a lot longer to implement than I had anticipated (the unfortunate side effect of this being my first proper game).
Now that the mechanic is in place and stabilized I can - and have been - focusing significantly more on the storyline, with Lily, Emma and the Create a Character story events taking front and center place in the last three updates.
That being said... I actually agree with you.
I had a vision for the battle system that would integrate with and compliment the overall narrative, but unfortunately what it's done in practice is to separate the game into two sides that barely interact with each other.
(Not to mention the whiplash that players experience, playing a straight sandbox VN for the first twenty hours and then suddenly being thrown into an old-school SNES-era combat RPG.)
I thought I could use the mechanics to give players more of a sense of immediate agency - and some people do very much enjoy it - but on the whole I think it's too much of a departure from what people enjoyed about the first two acts.
I'm not making any snap decisions, and this is very likely something I will discuss with the community over the next month, but I just wanted to let you know that your disappointment is heard and it is in fact something I am considering how to address :)
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Well, let me say first of all that I greatly appreciate how accepting you’re being of the criticism, it does make me hopeful knowing that you understand what i’m saying. I think a good compromise point would be, like- if you’re truly wanting to do the combat stuff and you feel it’s necessary to tell the story, then i’m sure a lot of people could get behind that, just so long as the story and such doesn’t fall behind as a result, if that makes sense. I’m not saying this to kiss ass or anything, but this really has been one of my favorite, uh… “adult games”, shall we say. I do honestly thing the story itself is pretty good on a regular game level (as h games are notorious for bad stories). Just, if it takes time, i’m sure the community is willing to wait, myself included. Just so long as the story hasn’t been forgotten.
Sidenote, as the creator, i’m curious. Who’s been your favorite character to write so far?